CRICKET.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXIII, Issue IX, 26 August 1899, Page 24

CRICKET.

THE AUSTRALIANS' TOUR THE LAST TEST MATCH. The fifth and last test match has now been played, and has ended in another of those unsatisfactory draws, but on this occasion Colonials may not be so prone to grumble at the' three days’ limit, as when play ceased the Australians — on paper, at all events —had all the worst of it. The Englishmen were lucky in winning the toss, and the wicket being a splendid one the colonials had as a matter of course to take the field. Jaekson and Hayward started the batting, and made such a splendid stand that even at this early stage the defeat of the English eleven seemed most improbable. The total was 185 when Jackson was finally bowled by Jones for 118 runs. He played a brilliant innings, but gave three chances. Ranji followed, and another stand was made, Hayward not being got rid of until he had scored 137 without a chance. Ranji did not long survive him, hia

total being 54. Fry and Maeluren then got together, and gave the colonials some more leather hunting, the former getting 60 and the latter 49 runs before they were disposed of. The remaining batsmen did not do quite so much execution, though they scored evenly with the exception of Bradley and Rhodes, and the totjal was 576 runs. The colonials did not make a very good start, Trumble. Worrall. Noble, and Trumper being out with the score at 120, of which total Worrall obtained 55.. Darling and Gregory then made a useful stand, and carried the score to 220 before Darling was dismissed for 71 runs. Neither Iredale nor Kelly were of much assistance to Gregory, but McLeod came to the rescue, and another good stand was made, and the total was carried to 340 before Gregory was caught for 117 runs. The remaining batsmen did nothing, nnd the innings closed for 352, McLeod being not out with 31 runs to his credit. Being 224 runs behind, the colonials followed on, Worrall and McLeod opening. A splendid start was made, and the score was taken to 116 before Worrall was caught behind the wickets for 75 runs. Noble joined McLeod, and another good stand was made, and the total had reached 208 ere McLeod was bowled for an exceedingly useful 77. The next three batsmen. Trumper, Gregory, and Darling did nothing. and when time was called the colonials had lost five wickets for 254, Noble 69 not out. ENGLAND.—First Innings. Jackson b Jones 118 Hayward c Iredale b McLeod 137 Ranjitsinhji c Howell b Jones.... 54 Fry e Worrall b Jones 60 Maclaren c Trumper b Trumble.. 49 Townsend b Jones 38 A. O. Jones b Noble 31 Lilley c Iredale b Noble 37 Lockwood b Trumble 24 Bradley run out - 0 Rhodes not out 8 Extras 20 Total 576 BOWLING ANALYSIS. Jones four wickets for 165. Noble two for 96. Trumble two for 107. McLeod one for 131. Howell none for 42. Worrall none for 15. AUSTRALIA. —First Innings. Trumble c and b A. O. Jones 24 Trumper c Lilley b Jones... 6 Noble b Lockwood 9 Worrall c Hayward b Lockwood.. 55 Darling c Fry b Lock wood 71 Gregory c Jones b Lockwood 117 Kelly lbw b Jones 4 Iredale b Lockwood 9 Jones b Lockwood 0 McLeod, not out 31 Howell b Lockwood 4 Sundries 12 Total 352 BOWLING ANALYSIS. Lockwood seven wickets for 71. A. O. Jones three for 73. Rhodes none for 79. Bradley none for 52. Jackson none for 39. Townsend none for 16. AUSTRALIANS.—Second Innings. Worrall c Lilley b Hayward 75 McLeod, b Rhodes 77 Noble, not out 69 Trumper, c and b Rhodes 7 Gregory, b Rhodes 2 Darling, run out 6 Trumble, not out 3 Extras 15 Total for five ■wickets 254 BOWLING ANAYLSIS. Rhodes took three wickets for 27 runs. Hayward, one for 38. Bradley, none for 32. Townsend, none for 9. Jackson, none for 53. Jones, none for 43. Fry, none for 3. Lockwood, none for 33. ''a ® © © t NOTES AND STATISTICS. The result of the five test matches played in England this season clearly demonstrates the necessity for a longer time-limit than 3 days. No less than four of the five games have been ’drawn, one on account of rain, and ithrice because the end of the third day’s play saw the game still unfinished. The first test, it will be remembered, was drawn, England only- being saved from defeat by the time-limit.

The Australians scored 252 and 230 against the Home team's 193 and 155 for 7 wickets. Australia won the second test match by It) wiekets, the scores being: England 206 and 240; Australia 421 and 28 for no wickets. In the third test match, which had to be abandoned, the colonials scored 172 and 226, whilst England made 220, and in the second innings had scored 19 for 0 wickets when heavy rain rendered the ground unfit for further play. The fourth test was drawn, the

scores being: England 372 and 94 for 3 wickets; Australia 196 and 346 for 7 wiekets (innings declared closed). And now the fifth and last match has also ended in a draw. While the Australians carry off the rubber by virtue of their victory in the second test match, the general result of the contest is most unsatisfactory. It is evident that if public interest in these test matches is to be maintained some arrangement will have to be made whereby the supremacy can be more definitely decided.

The match just concluded was a notable one in several respects, but from a colonial point of view the most pleasing feature of the game was the splendid up-hill fight made by the Australians—especially Gregory. McLeod and Worrall—when faced with the huge total of 576. By steady batting they cut down the deficit,'until by the time one wicket had fallen in the Australians’ second innings they were close up, and the match looked anybody’s game. Certainly the next three wickets went very cheaply, but they had still five wickets to fall, and there is very little “tail” about the present Australian team. McLeod’s success, after his comparative failure with the bat throughout the tour, is particularly pleasing, and goes far to atone for his previous falling-off. "The moment produces the man.” Thus it was with McLeod in 1597-S in the test matches against Stoddart’s team, and thus it has been with him in the onlytest match he has taken part in this year. Worrall, too, did exceptionally well. In view of his fine average for the last four test matches, his exclusion from the first appears to have been a mistake on the selectors’ part. It will be seen from the statistics given below that in the five test matches each Australian wicket averaged 30.87 runs, while each English wicket averaged 29.72 runs, leaving the advantage slightly in favour of Australia. The batting and bowling averages of the English and Australians in the test matches are appended. McLeod has the highest batting average, though of course he had only two innings (once not out). Next to him comes Hayward, with 68.8 for six completed innings, and then Hill, with 60.5. Lockwood comes out with the best bowling analysis, being verysuccessful in the only match he played in. Jones, the ' Australian fast bowler, took twice as many wickets as any English bowler; Trumble and Noble also did good work with the ball. The English had, of course, a larger store of bowling talent to draw upon than their opponents, and 19 Englishmen were tried with the ball, as against 7 of the colonials. Here are the figures:— AUSTRALIANS. (In test matches only.) BATTING AVERAGES.

Total number of runs scored by England, 2081: wiekets lost. 70; average, 29.72 runs per wicket. Total number of runs scored by Australia, 2470: wickets lost. SO: average,’ 30.87 runs per wicket. Twenty-four men played for England, of whom 19 were tried with the ball. The only uon-bowlers were Lillev. Storer (wicketkeepers), Tv-Jdesley. MacLaren. and Glinn Thirteen men played for Australia, of whom 7 were used as bowlers. © © © AUSTRALIANS V. GLOUCESTERSHIRE. Like the test match this game also ended in a draw. The county batted first, and were all dismissed for 203 runs, Jessop (57) and Champain (51) being the largest contributors. The Australians just managed to obtain a small lead in their first innings, their total being 2.28, of which Noble obtained 77. Gloucestershire's second attempt realised exactly 300 runs, Townsend being responsible for 135 not out. In their second innings the colonials had lost five wickets for 175 runs when play ceased.

© © © THE AVERAGES. Below are given the batting averages of the Australian team down to the end of the Gloucestershire match. Noble, who is now the only batsman with an average of over 40, must finish up the tour with a higher average than has ever before been gained by an Australian in an English tour. There are now only five more matches to lie played, so that even if he makes nothing but “blobs” in his remaining innings Noble will still have a better average than 31.5, the previous best, which stands to the credit of S. E. Gregory. Worrall and Gregory have both passed the 1000 in the aggregates, while Noble is almost 1,500, and within measurable distance of Murdoch's record aggregate of 1711 for the tour. Trumble will probably get his 1000 runs as well as his 100 wickets, being now 952. Here are the figures:

Albert Trott has made 1000 runs and taken 200 wiekets in first-class cricket his season. The newspapers admit that the honours in the test matches rest with the Australians, but they- contend that if the unfinished matches had been played out England would have scored the majority of wins.

McLeod I. N.O. H.S. Tl.Sc. Avg. 1 77 108 108.0 Hill 5 0 135 301 60.2 Noble 9 *> 89 367 52.4 Worrall 8 1 76 318 45.4 Trumble ... 9 3 232 38.5 Truinper .... 1 135* 280 35.0 Iiarling 10 1 71 230 25.5 Iredale 1 36* 102 25.5 Gregory .... 8 0 117 188 23.5 Kelly 8 1 33 120 17.1 Laver 1 45 72 12.0 Jones 7 0 17 31 4.4 Howell 4 2 7 17 3.4 Johns did not play. * Signifies not out. BOWLING . AVERAGES. Laver • • • Wkts. Runs. Avg. 4 70 17.50 Trumble ... 15 375 25.00 Jones 26 651 25.03 •Noble 13 398 30.61 Howell 9 345 38.33 McLeod .... 1 131 131.00 Worrall , — 15 — (In ENGLISHMEN, test matches only.) BATTING AVERAGES. i. : N.O. H.S. Tl.Se. Ave. Hayward ... 7 1 137 413 6.8.8 Ranjitsinhji 8 2 93* 278 46.3 Lilley 5 1 58 181 45.2 Jackson 8 1 118 303 43.2 Brown 2 1 27 41 41.0 MacLaren .. 6 1 88 • 164 32.8 Jones, A. O. 1 0 31 81 31.0

JrSSop o 0 51 55 27.5 Lockwood ... 1 O 24 • • j 24.0 Bradley 1 .»•» Yotiug . .. K o tin IM 23.0 • » o 43 4;: 21.5 Brock well ... 1 o 20 20 lownseud 0 :w 17.0 Quaife ... 4 1 44 14.« < irate u •»s • H I 14.5 3 y Ides ley ... 4 o •e» 7»« > Gunn o • 14 17 S.5 Rhodes ... 4 1 18 Hirst .... 1 0 6 6 6.0 Hearne ... 3 1 r. 10 7».O S;-»;-er •> o 4 •y 3.5 Mead 2 O 7 7 Briggs did not hat. •Sign-ties not out. BOWLING AVERAGES. Wkts. Runs. 3.5 Je • <wood 1 104 14. S3 Briggs 3 17.66 Hearne 12 13 3 20 1G Tow nseud Rhodes 341 30 25.00 Ranjit I 30.00 Jones. A. <>. .. .3 Illi 3s.t:ti Bradley •lesson 6 233 38. S3 11 a y wa rd .. •» 138 4»;.«»o Jaekson Hirst 1 “<52 58 60 62.00 Mead Brown 1 . 0 91 91.00 Quaife 0 19 Brock well 0 54 Grace 0 37 —

T. N o. ii.s. n. Sc. A vs?. Noble 43 ■7 156 1491 41.4 Hill 23 1 160 879 30 O Worm 11 .... 36 128 1155 37.2 Darling 48 8 13-1 * 1463 36.5 Trumper .. 41 3 3( •< )♦ 1374 36 1 Gregory .... 45 6 124 1135 29.1 Iredale .... 30 115 796 * *8 t Trumble ... 43 y 100 952 Johns .... r» 3 50 25.0 Kelly 32 4 103 690 24.0 Laver 31 8 79 565 24 Jones *’’1 3 r»;» 481 18.5 McLeod .... 31 (j 406 16.2 Howell .... 34 © © 9 49* 304 12.1